James Franklin, branch chief of hurricane forecast operations, at the National Hurricane Center in Miami earlier this year. Hurricane season ends today.

Every year, Floridians look forward to the hurricane season predictions.

In April, we hear from Colorado State University's forecast team, which was begun by William Gray. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weighs in, as do AccuWeather, The Weather Channel and others.

We listen to the numbers - how many named storms, hurricanes, major hurricanes - and we wonder, is this the year our luck runs out?

But if you've had the nagging feeling these forecasts are not worth much, this hurricane season proved the point.

Hurricane season officially ends today. So we will finish this season with 13 named storms - slightly above average - but only two hurricanes and no major hurricanes. After Tropical Storm Andrea made landfall near Steinhatchee in early June, not another storm touched the United States.

Florida has gone a record eight years without a hurricane making landfall.

How could the forecasts have been so wrong? Blame it on dust from the Sahara, a drought in Brazil, dry air over the Atlantic. Regardless, the annual guessing game may do more harm than good.

A forecast missed this badly gives ammo to climate change skeptics, who ask how scientists can predict global change when they can't even make a good stab at the hurricane season. It also can breed complacency, as citizens suffer forecast fatigue.

Peter Ray, a Florida State University professor of meteorology who sends out popular email forecasts during hurricane season, wrote in his Monday message:

"I have long said that there is little science in preseason estimates, and apparent skill exists only because that in most years the distributions tend to cluster about their average values, so that the lack of knowledge is masked by the statistical distribution. The reality becomes only apparent in years like 2005 and 2013."

Next spring, the forecasts no doubt will be back. They may make for interesting dinner conversation, but this is the bottom line:

Florida has been a target of hurricanes since before European explorers started keeping records. Despite its long run of luck, Florida will get hit again.

Regardless of the long-range forecast, every Floridian should be prepared for the worst. We can't let down our guard.

But for now, we can breathe a sigh of relief and congratulate ourselves on escaping for another year.